{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T15:46:59Z","timestamp":1790092019421,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":60,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"24","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,18]],"date-time":"2021-12-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1639785600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>According to recent research, body positivity and self-compassion are key outcomes that are tied to better psychological and physical health. To date, it is unclear whether body positivity and self-compassion improve, stay constant, or deteriorate over the course of a weight management program, particularly one that addresses the psychological roots of behavior change. Additionally, beyond controlled settings, there are no studies on body positivity and self-compassion in individuals who choose to join a commercial weight management program. Therefore, this single-arm prospective study examined changes in body positivity and self-compassion from baseline to the 16 week milestone of Noom Weight, a commercial behavior change weight management program informed by acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). We also examined how baseline and over-time changes in body positivity and self-compassion predicted engagement in program-measured relevant behaviors (e.g., exercises logged). Participants were a random subset of individuals who had recently self-enrolled in the program (n = 133). Body positivity and self-compassion were measured via survey at baseline and end of the core program (16 weeks). Self-reported weight and program-recorded engagement were extracted from the program database. Compared to baseline, body appreciation, body image flexibility, self-compassion, and body-focused rumination significantly improved at 16 weeks (all ps &lt; 0.007). Participants lost a statistically significant amount of weight (3.9 kg; t(128)) = 10.64, p &lt; 0.001) by 16 weeks, which was 4.4% body weight. Greater engagement, especially messaging a coach, reading articles, and logging meals, was associated with improvements over time in body appreciation (r = 0.17, p = 0.04), body image flexibility (r = \u22120.23, p = 0.007), and the brooding component of rumination (r = \u22120.23, p = 0.007). Greater engagement was also associated with baseline total self-compassion (r = 0.19, p = 0.03) and self-judgment (r = 0.24, p = 0.006). The results suggest that individuals experience improvements in body positivity and self-compassion while learning about ACT, DBT, and CBT through curriculum and coaching in this setting. The results also have important clinical implications, such as the possibility that psychologically-oriented (i.e., ACT, DBT, and CBT-based) weight management could be important to improve body positivity or that baseline self-compassion could be used to target individuals at risk for lower engagement. Future work should investigate these possibilities as well as delineate the causal relationships between body positivity, self-compassion, engagement, and weight loss.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph182413358","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,19]],"date-time":"2021-12-19T20:37:27Z","timestamp":1639946247000},"page":"13358","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["Body Positivity and Self-Compassion on a Publicly Available Behavior Change Weight Management Program"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Meaghan","family":"McCallum","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Annabell Suh","family":"Ho","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4367-5310","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Christine N.","family":"May","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Heather","family":"Behr","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA"},{"name":"Department of Integrative Health, Saybrook University, 55 W Eureka St., Pasadena, CA 91103, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7851-6283","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ellen Siobhan","family":"Mitchell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Michealides","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Research, Noom, 229 W 28th St., New York, NY 10001, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"541","DOI":"10.1080\/00224545.2017.1392278","article-title":"Positive body image is positively associated with hedonic (emotional) and eu-daimonic (psychological and social) well-being in British adults","volume":"158","author":"Swami","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. 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